Have Faith In Me
by EmmyGoldsworthy13
Summary: Clare tells Eli about her past, he does the same. Will they still accept each other despite their pasts? R&R.
1. Flirty Banter Will Get You Into Trouble

**So, this is one of my first stories! Eli and Clare are adorable; Nuff said. Enjoy the storyy!**

_**By the way, I don't in any way, shape, or form own Degrassi. I can dream, thoughh. (:**_

_**Chapter 1:**_

I'm sitting in English class, trying to concentrate on what Mrs. Dawes is saying. I can't concentrate with my English partner Eli in front of me. Eli has become one of my good friends over the past few weeks. He's drawing on his nails with a black sharpie marker, and I can't help but stare. I like him; a lot more than I should. But, I don't think I could ever date him, because he always instigates fights with the school bully, Mark Fitzgerald a.k.a 'Fitz'. But, he still draws me in, and I'm not completely sure why. When he convinced me to skip class a few weeks ago, he brought out a rebellious side in myself that I didn't know I had.

And I loved every second of it.

"Clare, can you answer the question I just asked the class?" Mrs. Dawes said with a raised eyebrow and a small smile. I gulped as my cheeks grew warm with a blush.

"N-no, I'm sorry Mrs. Dawes…" I stuttered out, feeling embarrassed.

She chuckled. "Try to pay more attention, Ms. Edwards." She said, and turned back to the board and continued to teach.

"Smooth, Edwards." Eli said, turning his body sideways in his desk and smirking at me. I felt my face grow hot as soon as he looked me in the eye.

"Shut up, Goldsworthy." I retorted playfully with a small smile. He scoffed.

"Well, I guess I _am_ pretty distracting… I mean, look at this face!" Eli said playfully, with a silly expression while waving his hands around his face. I laughed at how silly he can be. "I mean, I have _this _face, my amazing writing skills, my cynical sense of humor, my-"

I cut him off, "Oh, and don't forget modest, you can't forget modest." I said while giggling. He laughed huskily and was about to say something else when Mrs. Dawes snapped us out of our conversation.

"Ms. Edwards, Mr. Goldsworthy. Care to tell the class what you two were talking about, considering you thought it was more important than my lesson?" She half-shouted, with one hand on her hip.

"We were talking about how wonderful this class is!" Eli exclaimed cheekily, with a sarcastic expression soon following his statement. He turned to face forward in his desk and placed his folded hands on his desk.

Mrs. Dawes had a smile on her face while glaring at him. "Well, you two, since you claim to love this class so much, why don't you stay for an hour after school for a detention?" My jaw dropped in disbelief. I was supposed to meet Ali after school at The Dot!

"But, Mrs. Dawes-" I scrambled.

"No buts!" She interrupted. I sighed. "I'll see you two after school." She said, giving us both stern looks. "

"Cool." Eli murmured. _Cool? _How the hell is this _cool_? He is looking at me with a not-so-subtle smirk on his tanned face.

"What?" I snapped at him. He held both his hands up in mock surrender with a surprised look on his face, and then he turned around in his chair. Ugh! Eli can be so… irritating! The bell rang, and my peers rushed out of the classroom to do whatever they had planned to do. But no, I was stuck here; because of Eli.

"No talking. Eli, go and sit somewhere across the room." Mrs. Dawes ordered. Eli got up and plopped down in the desk unhappily. "I'll be in the teachers lounge grading papers if you need me. And don't even think about leaving early, because I'll need to sign your slips before you leave." Mrs. Dawes said sternly, strutting out of the classroom with papers in her arms. Once the coast was clear, I took out my phone and sent Ali a text.

_Sorry Ali, I can't go to The Dot with you today, Eli got me another detention. Great. _

_~Clare_

Eli cleared his throat, trying to get my attention.

"Clare." He said in a hushed tone. I rolled my eyes and ignored him, I was still rather cross with him, and I didn't want to look at him. His gorgeous emerald eyes would crumble my resolve.

"Clare, please don't be mad." He murmured. He actually sounded… _sorry. _

"Too late." I muttered, trying not to look at him, studying my hands intently.

"What are you so mad about? It's one detention. Big deal." He said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes at him again.

"I don't care about the detention. I had plans after school." I said, while narrowing my eyes at him.

"Like what?" He asked, challenging me.

"I was going to meet Ali at The Dot. But, you ruined that little plan, didn't you?" I retorted. Eli just smirked.

"You were talking, too. I'm not the only one to blame, St. Clare." Eli said while sitting back in his desk, knowing he had won.

"You know… I'm really not that much of a saint." I said matter-of-factly, avoiding how he had won our little scuffle. I hated how everyone just assumed I was a saint, when I'm really not. Everyone just judges me by my Catholic religion, and assumes I'm a goody-goody, when in reality, I'm far from it. Eli just laughed.

"Oh really? How so?" Eli questioned with a huge smirk across his smug face. I stood up, moving a few desks over to a desk next to his.

"You know how you were going to fight Fitz last week?" I said. He nodded. "Well, you know how a stink-bomb set off in the school, and conveniently forced the whole student body to flood into the parking lot, instantly stopping the fight? Yeah. Well. Guess who set off the stink bomb?" I said, crossing my arms with a smug look on my face. At first, Eli looked confused. But as realization dawned upon his face and his jaw dropped in disbelief, I knew I had proved his assumption to be wrong.

"No way…" He said, shaking his head and staring at the floor. "Why?" I looked at the ceiling tiles, put a disbelieving smile on my face, and shook my head.

"Why do you _fucking _think, Eli?" I said. Eli looked at me in awe, because 'Saint Clare' just swore.

"I… I don't know." Eli said, dumbfounded. I shook my head again; he's unbelievable.

"Because I _hate_ when you fight with Fitz! I'm worried every day, that one of you is going to take it too far, and you're going to get hurt!" I ranted. I sighed, and Eli was about to say something, but I cut him off. "Do you even _know_ what I have to deal with at home?" I muttered, with tears stinging my eyes. Eli's green eyes were wide, and he was staring at the floor with his mouth slightly open.

"No, Clare, I don't know…" He said softly. A tear slid down my cheek, as I realized I was about to tell my biggest secret to someone I've known for less than a month, someone I _like,_ in a detention room. I took a deep breath, as I prepared for what I was about to tell him.

"My parents are _constantly_ screaming at each other, so much that I can barely hear myself think. A few years ago, my sister Darcy was at a party. Some _douche bag _put a roofie in her drink, and took her away from the party and raped her. After it dawned on her what had happened, she slit her wrists too deep and tried to kill herself. My parents couldn't believe that their precious daughter had been raped by some _psycho…" _I stated bitterly. "So they fought. Darcy left for Kenya when it got bad, and she left me to deal with it by myself. And she _still_ isn't back. School is like… is like my safe haven. And then, you fight with Fitz… And it scares me to death to think of what these little scuffles between you two could turn out to be." I choked on the last sentence, and let out a sob as I buried my face in my hands. Would Eli think differently of me if he knew I cared that much about him? I couldn't even imagine what I would do if something happened to Eli, and I shivered. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and quickly shook it off.

"Clare… I had no idea… I'm sorry." I heard Eli whisper softly. "I'm so… _so_, sorry." He put his hand on my knee, but this time, I didn't shake it off. I moved my hands from my face, and looked him in the eyes. To my surprise, his eyes were glistening and teary. I wrapped my arms around myself, and turned to face forward in the desk as tears trickled down my face.

_I finally let someone in, _I thought to myself. Just then, Mrs. Dawes popped into the room, papers in hand; _Wow. That was great timing, _I thought. She looked at us and did a double-take, noticing both of our teary eyes. Mrs. Dawes looked hesitant, and asked for our slips so she could sign them. After she signed mine, I hitched my bag onto my right shoulder and bursted out of the classroom, tears stinging my eyes. I heard footsteps behind me, but I ignored them. I can't believe I just spilled my biggest secret, something I've been hiding for so long, to my English partner. In_ detention._

**So this is the end of Chapter 1! Suggestions, comments, anythingg? Put them in a review so that I can improve my writing! Thanks Guys! Hopefully the next chapter will be up sometime within the next weeek!**


	2. Realizations

**Hey Guys! So, this is the final chapter to this story. Enjoyy. (:**

_**By the way, I don't in any way own Degrassi or any of it's characters. But I can dream, right?**_

I busted through the front doors of Degrassi, fighting back more tears as they began to fall. I slung my bag farther up on my shoulder, and ran down the front steps. The footsteps I heard behind me became louder, and they were getting closer.

"Clare!" I heard Eli shout. I picked up my speed and ran faster. I heard him calling my name in the distance, but as I ran nearer to my house, his voice faded. I had tears blurring my eyes as my feet hit the pavement of the sidewalk again and again. I turned onto my street, and bolted for my driveway. When I got there, I slowed down to a walk. My parents' cars weren't in the driveway, which meant they weren't home.

_As usual. _I thought to myself bitterly. I sniffled, and more tears were about to fall when I stopped myself.

_Quit crying. You're better than that. _I thought.

I trudged up my front walk, and took my house key out of my pocket. The door opened with a soft _click_, and I stepped into my house and shut the door. I took off my Candie's sandals, and put them in the coat closet. I put my bag of homework and books on the stairs, and headed to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of orange juice, and was about to take a sip when the doorbell rang. I rolled my eyes and set my juice down, and walked over to the window in my living room to see who it was before I answered. I moved the curtain aside with my hand, and what I saw made my heart stutter.

There was a black vintage hearse parked in the street.

I looked to the front porch, and I met a pair of green eyes. I quickly put the curtain back and bit my lip. Should I answer the door, or should I go and drink my orange juice?

Before I could answer that question, I heard a knock on the living room window. I hesitantly pulled the curtain back, and I saw a pair of piercing green eyes looking back at me.

_I see you._ He mouthed, with a smirk. I couldn't help it, that smirk made my own lips curl up at the edges. I got up to get the door, and when I opened it, I found a smirking Eli. When he saw me, his mouth quickly turned down and his face was serious.

"Clare, I'm sorry. I know I've told you that a million times before, but I don't care. I didn't know that fighting with Fitz effected you, and I'm really sorry. If I had known it would effect you like that, I wouldn't have thought twice about fighting with him. I swear, I won't even look at him. Oh God, I'm rambling, aren't I? I'm sorry, it's j-" He babbled, but I cut him off when I put my index finger to his lips to silence him.

"Eli, I forgive you." I said, flashing him a small smile. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes as a smile crept onto his face.

"Thank you." He said, thankful for my forgiveness. His smile faltered, and then he became serious again.

"Do you want to know why I fight with him?" He asked, his expression hesitant. I nodded.

"Come in and sit down." I told him, taking his wrist and urging him inside until I could close the door. I gestured my hand to the couch, and he sat down gently with a determined look on his face. I sat next to him, but faced my body towards him on the couch. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

"When I was 9, there was this kid, Mike. He was a little bit older than me, and I have no clue why, but he hated me. Every day when I came home from school, he would be waiting there for me at the street corner." He paused, staring at the swirly designs of the throw-rug. "He beat me up almost every single day. And I never stood up to him like I should have. So this time around, when Fitz was tormenting you, Adam, and I, I stood up to him. I stood up to him because I couldn't let him get away like Mike did." He finished, closing his eyes.

When I heard his story, and put myself in his shoes, I knew I would've done the same thing. I thought about the whole thing from his perspective, and I understood his reason for fighting with Fitz. I was about to tell him that I understood why he fought with him, when he began to speak again.

"I have an ex-girlfriend. Her name is Julia." He said, looking pained to say her name. He gulped, and continued. "I loved her. Hell, I still do. I would've taken a bullet for her. One night, I got into a fight with my best friend. I went home, and called Julia and asked her to come over. She could always make me laugh, no matter what I was feeling. She rode her bike here, and I told her what happened. She took his side, and I was a total asshole to her." He muttered. I noticed his hands were shaking. But, he went on. "She left on her bike in the night. She got hit by a car on her way to a friends house. About half an hour after I assumed she had gone home, I got a frantic call from her step-mom, who told me that she had gotten hit by a car, and that she was in the hospital. I raced out of my house, and sped to the hospital. But when I got there…" He paused, taking a few quick breaths as a tear trickled down his cheek. "She was gone. She died, because of me." He said, putting his head in his hands. I put my hand on his shoulder and laid it there gently. My eyes were filled with unshed tears, and as I heard a few quiet sobs come from him, there was a pain in my heart that I didn't know how to relieve.

"Eli, you have to believe me. It wasn't your fault." I said softly, a tear escaping my eye, as I pleaded with him to have faith in my statement.

"Yes it is!" Eli shouted miserably, sitting up and taking his head from his hands and looking me in the eyes. His face was stained with tears as I looked into his eyes, and I could see the utter guilt and sadness in them. A few more tears ran down my cheeks as I saw the raw emotion in his emerald eyes, and I raised my hand to his cheek to wipe away a tear that escaped from the corner of his eye.

"No, it wasn't, Eli. You didn't know." I said, another tear escaping, as I brought him into my arms and held on tight. He didn't respond at first, but as it registered in his brain, he pulled his face into my cinnamon curls and hugged me back. He cried into my shoulder, and we stayed like that for a while.

There we were. In the middle of my living room, embracing and never planning on letting go. I felt the pain in my heart lighten until there was only a dull ache. The dull ache turned into this feeling I'd never felt before, and at that moment, I realized something that would change my life.

_I fell for the hearse driving, sarcastic, witty, and dark Elijah Goldsworthy. _

We both pulled away at the same time as we looked into each other's teary eyes, and icy blue met emerald green. I could stare into those gems forever, they truly were amazing. Before I knew what was happening, we both started to lean in. My eyes went from his lips to his eyes, over and over again. Eli saw, and he picked the perfect time to smirk as our lips collided lightly. I took a chance, and wrapped my arms around his neck to smash our lips together harder. I felt his tongue poke at my lips, and I opened my mouth to let him in. He put his hands on my hips, and our tongues wrestled until I pulled away for air. I looked up until our eyes met again, and his eyes were happy.

"I've been waiting a long time to do that." He said, touching his hand to my cheek and wiping away the half-dried tears with a small smile. I laughed lightly.

"Me too." I told him, pressing my lips to his again for a few seconds before pulling away. He smirked.

"Do you believe me, that it wasn't your fault?" I asked him, wiping a tear drop from the inner corner of his eyes.

"Nope. But I'm stubborn as a mule, so don't take it too personally." He said flashing me a grin, smashing our lips together again. I half rolled my eyes at his answer, as I smiled against his lips. He was so… Eli.

_But, that's why I love him. _

**End of Chapter 2.**

**This is also the end of the story! I can just picture Eli saying that, so I put it as the ending.**

**I liked it, but did you? Put your opinion in a review please, and if you have constructive criticism, I'd love that too. (:**


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